The Ascension of an Angel
by dax-fox
Summary: Magnus and Alec have come to London to relax but from the begining they come in to conflict with each other but they can't afford to be torn apart when dangerous enemies are on the loose who want Alec.They must stick together to see another day.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. It all belongs to Cassndra Clare**

**Author's Note: This is a long multi-chapter story, which is all prewriiten so I can guarantee you an end :D This is just a bit of a background introductory chapter. Imagine this story takes place post-COG as per the story in COFA that Malec go traveling however the events described in COFA (such as Magnus and Alec' returrn) do not occur. **

_**Two weeks ago:**_

"Come away with me."

It was a simple wish. A short and uncomplicated sentence but to Alec it created a huge dilemma. His heart beat faster as he considered it. His biggest problem was trying to understand why he had a problem in the first place. He was pinned against the bed with the most beautiful warlock he had ever seen leaning over him. Magnus Bane. Why shouldn't he go away with him?

No matter where Alec looked to avoid the Warlock's gaze all he could see were mementoes that just screamed **Magnus**. From the rainbow coloured curtains to the canary yellow bedspread, Alec was smothered in all things Magnus. The question had put him on the defensive and all his eyes could do was search for a way out... but there was no way. No escaping the question.

He licked his lips which had suddenly become dry and sore without his noticing. "I-I'm not sure, what do you mean?" He asked, helplessly.

"Yes you do, liar." Magnus sighed and then tossed himself down on to the bed next to Alec.

Alec didn't look at him; instead he reached up to re-button the top half of his shirt, undoing Magnus' gentle operation of revealing his scarred chest. When he was done he sat up slowly, his eyes fixed on the window. There wasn't much to see.

"I don't mean come away with me permanently. I just thought... Our relationship is still so new, Alec. There is still so much we need to discover about each other. We can achieve this best if we spend some time alone. Just a bit of travel, darling. It broadens the mind you know. Besides, how long has it been since you last had a proper holiday?"

"Being a Shadowhunter isn't the sort of job you can take a break from. It's a way of life," Alec said, so quietly that Magnus had to prop himself up on his elbow to hear.

Magnus chewed his bottom lip. "I respect that. But," Magnus sat up properly, putting his hand on Alec's own. "You want to be the best Shadowhunter you can be right?" he grinned broadly as he spoke. "So you ought to rest and clear your head before you get back on task, especially after everything that has happened."

Magnus did not need to expand any further. They both knew about all the tragedy and violence that had occurred during the last few weeks.

Alec met his lovers , his lips slightly parted. They sat in silence for a few moments, an atmosphere of suspense building around them. Even Alec didn't know what his answer was. The proposition was so romantic and he truly did want to get away from the Institute, just for a little while...

Looking at Magnus made him want to agree all the more. Those unusual, exotic eyes, those soft lips that had caressed his own so many times during the last few days, they were so gorgeous. For the entire world he wanted to just give in and agree to the Warlock's wishes.

_So why dodn't I? _

He had responsibilities. And Max was dead... he had no business abandoning his family now. But it wasn't abandonment. There wasn't anything permanent about a holiday! He had mourned his poor little brother as much as anyone, but he had a life to live. Max would have hated to see them all caught in a web of despair.

Alec averted his eyes again, and then murmured under his breath, "I do want to go."

"Then we shall."

"It's not that easy, Magnus!"

"Yes, Alec, it is that easy!" Magnus leapt off the bed and clutched Alec's wrists, dragging him up beside him. His eyes searched Alec's own mercilessly, looking for a weakness.

He found it. He smiled and mashed his lips against Alec's. Gone was the tenderness of before, this kiss was one of animalistic intensity. Finally Alec stole his lips back for his own use, his breathing now ragged.

"Fine, I'll come away with you." He smiled uncontrollably. He was going to go on holiday with his lover. Nothing else mattered. With the weight of dilemma removed from his mind he drew the warlock back towards him, his hands caressing his jaw.

But Magnus withdrew, laughing. "Now, now, Alexander. We have plenty of time for things like that later. Right now I have to start packing; you'd be surprised how many things I need."

"Where shall we go?"

"Anywhere and everywhere, darling."

Alec threw himself back on to the bed, content with his decision. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Magnus drag out a huge suitcase on wheels. It was a glittering blue. The suitcase was unceremoniously dumped on the floor and then a waterfall of colourful clothes went flying in to it.

Alec giggled slightly until one sparkling vest fell on his face, he sat up and threw it at the warlock. Magnus caught it out of the air.

"This is no time to get comfortable, Alec, go home and start packing."

"I won't be taking that much."

"Don't make me come around the Institute and start packing for you. I will, you know." Magnus put his hands to his hips theatrically, but despite the jokes, Alec knew Magnus would do just that if he didn't leave soon.

"Alright, alright. I'll see you later."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters and stuff, they are Cassandra Clare's**

**The Present:**

Strong hands gripped his waist and hot breath tickled his left ear. "Welcome to London."

Magnus pushed his head in to the crook of Alec's neck, hugging him from behind. Sharp lashings of rain blew in to their faces Alec looked down at the small black suitcase at his feet. It looked drenched and he couldn't quite remember if it was meant to be waterproof ... it didn't look like it was.

His first glimpses of the UK didn't exactly match the postcards. Sure, there were big red double-decker buses storming down the road and shining black cabs beetling along. There was Big Ben standing tall and proud, dominating the city sky-line. Yes, it was definitely London. But right now, through a veil of rain, all he could concentrate on was the bustling crowd and roaring traffic. It was all just too ... busy. They had been through so many cities across the world now and they all shared this tense atmosphere. Nevertheless the crowds made the same effect on him, his hands twitched nervously in the face of such a vast unknown. He half expected a demon to pop out at any second.

In some respects he wished he could just return to the Institute. It might not be the warmest or most inviting of places but it was his home. He knew every nook and cranny of the old Church. Alec had never before realised how much of a comfort it was after a day's work to go back there and know he was safe, at least for a little bit.

He wasn't frightened of being away from home, but his own paranoia kept him on the edge of his toes at all times despite the fact that he was meant to be on holiday. Magnus had been respectful of his nerves and hadn't snapped once when Alec inevitably drew the conversation round to whether the man at the bar was a downworlder or whether the murders in the paper were due to supernatural forces.

The only thing Magnus had insisted on was that no steles or seraph blades, in fact no Shadowhunter gear of any kind should leave their hotel room. It had taken Alec awhile to agree but nevertheless he had relented and had kept to the rule ever since.

"Now we just need to find the hotel." Magnus was standing in front of him now, glittering suitcase in hand. Today the suitcase was purple; its colour seemed to change every day.

Alec concentrated on the warlock in an effort to disregard the distracting crowd. "What's it called?"

Magnus laughed, "That's for me to know and for you to find out. Come on, let's find a taxi."

Magnus was already strolling off before Alec could bend down and grab the handle of his suitcase. He wished he had got one with wheels, he felt so awkward heaving the bulky thing around everywhere. He half scowled at the warlocks back. The thing would be less than half as heavy if Magnus hadn't come around and stuffed inessentials in to it.

Magnus looked back at him quickly as if he could feel the Shadowhunter's gaze burning in to his back. He smiled unconvincingly and grabbed at Alec's free hand.

"Are you alright?" he asked in earnest.

"Of course." Alec's voice sounded as if it were far away and he didn't even bother to look at Magnus as he spoke.

For some reason there had been tension between them since they first stepped out of the portal in to London. Magnus couldn't think of any reason why but then there had been a kind of tension growing between them since the beginning of the trip. Alec just seemed so closed off to him.

But why? He had thought the trip would help them open up to each other but it only seemed to bring them further apart. He sighed sadly, but tried to smile again when he saw Alec look up at him. Then their eyes parted again although their hands remained entwined.

Eventually they reached a taxi rank. Magnus let go of Alec's hand to tap the window. He whispered quickly to the driver who nodded with a bored expression pasted across his face.

Magnus turned to Alec, "You can get in," he motioned with his hand in the direction of the taxi.

"I'll put the cases in the trunk."

"Are you sure you don't want a hand?" Alec asked.

"Nah, I'm fine darlin'."

Alec nodded slightly and passed his suitcase to Magnus before getting in to the taxi.

Magnus shook his head slightly before dragging the two cases to the back and popping up the trunk. As he heaved the cases in to the taxi a scene across the road caught his eye.

Two young looking people were clutching on to each other. One, a man, was leaning against the side wall of an old bookshop. He was wearing an ostentatious black top hat which had a green ribbon wrapped around it. Apart from the hat he looked normal enough, with scruffy, paint stained jeans and a faded green t-shirt. A tall woman stood in front of him with her hands gripping at his t-shirt. She was taller than the man. She had long dark blonde hair that seemed to have red and brown highlights. Her long floral dress clung to her figure, soaked by the rain. Magnus wasn't sure what about the pair in particular had attracted his attention. Perhaps it was how thin their clothing seemed despite the rain.

The man seemed to notice him watching them and the woman turned around as well. She licked her lips suddenly and that was when Magnus saw that she had a forked tongue like a snake. The man too was odd, he had hands with claw like nails. They were warlocks.

They stood staring at Magnus, and Magnus stared back at them, each uninterrupted by the traffic whizzing past in-between them. Magnus broke the link first. _What does it matter that there are warlocks in London? There are warlocks everywhere, kit makes no difference. They're nothing special._

He slammed the boot of the taxi closed and got in without giving the couple another look and quickly forgot that he had seen them at all.

That was a mistake.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters and stuff, they are Cassandra Clare's**

**Chapter Three**

The taxi journey was taking longer than expected and the pair had hardly spoken at all since Magnus had got in. Magnus had reverted to staring out of the window but he didn'nt take any of it in.

Alec giggled to himself and Magnus looked at him curiously but Alec didn't say anything, just continued staring down at the glowing screen of his phone.

"Care to share?" Magnus drawled.

Alec looked up startled, as if he had forgotten Magnus was there at all.

"It's just a text Jace sent to me." He said casually with a shrug.

"And it said..?"

"Doesn't matter, you probably wouldn't get it anyway." Alec brushed his hand through his own hair before looking back down at his phone, as if the conversation was over.

Magnus didn't say anything more for the next three minutes until he saw Alec smirk once again at the invisible presence of his adoptive brother. Magnus could feel his stomach churning with annoyance. He had put up with enough moping and paranoia over the last two weeks to last a life time.

He had done everything he could think off to take Alec's mind off of his troubles, to just make the pretty young Shadowhunter smile. But they hadn't even been able to go a whole day without a reference to the troubles they had left behind or a frown coming across the boy's face.

But now Jace had suddenly tagged along on their private trip via digital means and made Alec smile. Something Magnus himself had had to work very hard to achieve but for the blonde haired Nephilim it just took one sarcastic text. Who was meant to be the boyfriend in this relationship, then? _Brothers are meant to be annoying and lovers are meant to be the ones that give you relief, the ones who make you smile!_

"Will you put that damn phone away!" Magnus snapped.

Alec flinched. "Why?" He demanded, defensively.

"Because, Alexander, this is our trip, not Jace's trip. We are the ones who are meant to be having fun together and yet I've ended up becoming a third wheel while you have a giggle with a guy who isn't even here!" Magnus spat. He spoke like a parent to a child.

He took a deep breath, after realising how harsh he had sounded. "Look." He said slowly.

"I have been trying very hard over the last two weeks to keep our collective spirits up but you haven't helped me in any way whatsoever. You seem determined to be permanently closed off and disconsolate." He couldn't keep a tremble out of his voice as he spoke.

"Well I'm sorry I ruined your holiday." Alec said, quietly but with a hint of anger. He turned the phone off put kept it clutched tightly in his hands and looked straight out of the window for the rest of the journey.

When they eventually reached the hotel Magnus silently paid the taxi driver and retrieved their cases. Alec stood as and watched his every move in stony silence.

Finally they made their way up the gravel drive and in to the entrance way of the hotel. A smartly dressed butler greeted them with pretend enthusiasm but neither of them could bring themselves to play along. They checked in and went upstairs.

Usually Alec would have made a comment about how expensive such an elaborate hotel as this was and beg to pay part of the fee. But this time he didn't say a word.

When they got in to the room Alec just sat on the corner of the large double bed, completely expressionless. Magnus closed the door slowly behind them, with a soft click. He walked up to Alec and then fell on to his knees so as to look directly in to the Shadowhunter's blue eyes. He put his hands either side of Alec, resting them gently on the bed.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that, will you forgive me?"

Alec shook his head in response, his expression still unreadable. Magnus didn't ask again. Instead he stood up and walked in to the ensuite bathroom, slamming the door behind him with a wave of his hand.

Alec whimpered to himself and put his clenched fists to his forehead. He didn't know what to do. Rain was still pattering against the window as if it was trying to get in. Hearing it made Alec shiver, he was still wet from standing outside. With a grunt he stood up and thrust the heavy velvet curtains across. At least he could block the grey image of the outside world out. Now he just needed to get rid of the storm clouds rumbling in his mind.

"I'm wet. I'm cold. I'm far away from home and my boyfriend hates me." He murmured to himself with a trembling sigh. He slipped out of his coat and lay down on the king-size bed just as he had done at Magnus's apartment only two weeks ago. Oh, how he longed to go back to that sunny day in Brooklyn. He didn't even _like_ Brooklyn. But Magnus... he loved Magnus.

His eyes felt heavy and suddenly Alec felt very tired. Through the walls he could hear the shower running in the ensuite. _When he comes back I'll apologise, then we can go back to being happy again..._Alec thought to himself dreamily.

But soon enough he was fast asleep, worn out by the stressful journey.

* * *

><p>Magnus scrubbed roughly at his face with a flannel as hot water cascaded over him. He almost dropped the flannel as he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror across from the shower.<p>

He looked like a wreck. Mascara was flowing down his cheeks like a river of tar and his hair lay lank and lifeless about his shoulders. Magnus shook his head as a gasp escaped his lips. His eyes were burning and he was thankful that there was nobody there to see him cry.

_Why did I do that? I'm such an idiot! A fool. I can't keep him to myself forever, his family are a part of him... but why did it have to be Jace? If it had been Isabelle then I could understand, but that smarmy blonde haired Shadowhunter..._

Magnus shuddered, scolding himself for being so jealous when he ought not to be.

_He was a childhood crush nothing more... nothing more..._

_Maybe I'm too possessive? It's true that I'd rather he live at my apartment and never leave. If it was just he and I we could spend our whole life's travelling around, just like this, he could still do his Shadowhunter bit. In fact we could be a demon hunting team, like Holmes and Watson, a demon hunting version of course. But would that make me Watson? I'm not so sure I would agree to that..._

He turned the shower off and stepped outside, looking for a towel.

The towels were white and extremely fluffy, so much so that Magnus found himself covered in little bits of fluff that were sticking to his wet body.

"Glitter maybe, but fluff? No." He clicked his fingers and it all disappeared. Looking around he found two white cotton dressing gowns hanging on the back of the bathroom door. He pulled one on tentatively and saw the name of the hotel, "Monsoon", was lavishly embroidered on the breast pocket and on both of the cuffs in purple thread.

Wrapping it around himself carefully Magnus checked his reflection once again. He was scrubbed clean and completely free of any cosmetic embellishments. He had been almost afraid the first time he had shown Alec what he truly looked like. It felt like removing mask, it was times like that that reminded Magnus that he wasn't quite as confident with himself as he made others believe and, even worse, as he himself thought he was.

Alec's enthusiasm for his blander appearance had surprised him on that first night but then again he hadn't expected the boy to run off or anything either. If there was anyone he could trust to take him for what he was, nothing more and nothing less, he felt sure it would be Alec, although they still had a long way to go, and he hadn't quite revealed everything about himself to Alec yet.

_Time will tell..._

Hesitantly he opened the door. In his head he had imagined Alec to be still sitting hunched up on the bed. He was surprised to see Alec instead fast asleep. The young Shadowhunter was still fully clothed apart from his coat which was now lying haphazardly on the back of an armchair.

Wake him up or leave him to sleep, that was the question Magnus now faced. After a moment of consideration he went to the opposite side of the bed to the one Alec had fallen asleep on and pulled the quilt gently over Alec. As he tucked it around him he noticed the boy was shivering. A pang of compassion struck Magnus's heart and he couldn't help but smile tenderly at the sleeping Shadowhunter as he innocently slept the day away.

It was only four o'clock in the afternoon but a brief look through the curtains revealed that the skies outside were practically as dark as if it were night-time already. Magnus pulled the curtains shut again.

He rummaged through his suitcase as quietly as he could; eventually he found what he was looking for. Carefully he tugged a long velvet blue cloak out of the overflowing suitcase and then dragged it over to the sofa and made himself a bed out of it.

He was about to settle to sleep before he hesitated and looked at Alec once more. Before he knew it he was standing beside him again and as gently as he could manage he bent over and tenderly kissed the boys brow. "Goodnight, Alec."

**Author's Note: Okay we're up to the third chapter which is still the calm before the storm. A lot of stuff happens in the next few, more so from the fifth chapter onwards. From then on the two warlocks from chapter two are explained and the plot properly starts. But I'm going to stop going all crazy and posting things for a bit and see if anyones interested first lol.**


End file.
